Waiting For Morning
by ten miles til midnight
Summary: While waiting for morning during the battle of Helm’s Deep, Aragorn grows increasingly restless and worried. Legolas takes it upon himself to calm, or at least distract, him. Based on the book.


**Title:** Waiting for Morning

**Author name:** ten miles til midnight

**Author email:** ten.miles.til. romance, fluff

**Keywords:** Aragorn, Helm's Deep, Legolas, slash

**Spoilers:** _The Two Towers_

**Rating:** PG – just kissing

**Summary:** While waiting for morning during the battle of Helm's Deep, Aragorn grows increasingly restless and worried. Legolas takes it upon himself to calm, or at least distract, him. Book canon.

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.R.R. Tolkien, the Tolkien estate (Christopher R. Tolkien, Michael H. R. Tolkien, John F. R. Tolkien, and Priscilla M. A. R. Tolkien), Ballantine Books, Random House, Inc., and New Line Cinema. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author****s Note:** This is slash, As in male/male. If that doesn't float your boat, then the back button's where it always is. This is my first bit of slash I've liked enough to share, so please be gentle with it. The first two sentences are a direct quote from The Two Towers (p. 170). The rest is just what my slashy mind wishes happened. Beta'ed by the wonderful Miss Cora, without whom this fic would be riddled with mistakes. Written for Rhysenn's Alliance of Men and Elves challenge.

Taking his leave of King Théoden, Aragorn retuned to the walls, and passed round all their circuits, enheartening the men and lending aid whenever assault was hot. Legolas went with him. Throughout the night Aragorn paced back and forth across the stone walls of the Hornburg. Charging the enemy was foolish in this game of waiting for morning and, for now at least, the defense of the Hornburg was left to the strength of the building itself and the defenders manning the walls. Aragorn the tactician recognized that attacking a superior force at night with no room for retreat was folly but Aragorn the human had long grown weary of wondering if Gimli and Éomer had made it safely to the caves. However, the tactician overrode the human and so Aragorn paced, waiting for the long night to end.

A hand on his shoulder stalled Aragorn's path to the far end of the battlement. 'You have been pacing since we retreated to the Hornburg. Are you planning to walk the night away?' asked soft voice in his ear.

Aragorn spun to see Legolas standing behind him, bow in hand and quiver empty. Legolas too had spent the night pacing along the high walls of the Hornburg, following the human. He too was worried for the safety of Gimli and the survival of the Rohirrim; however, at that moment, he was more worried about the man beside him. Aragorn felt heavily the mandate to help the Rohirrim and chafed at their inability to storm the enemy and find their missing comrades.

'We must wait for morning to answer Isengard's challenge. It helps pass the time,' Aragorn responded tersely.

'You shall have your chance to answer the Uruk-hai's taunts before long,'

'And until then I shall pace,' Aragorn decided resolutely.

'Or you could…' The rest of Legolas's sentence was lost as he stepped in front of Aragorn and lightly pressed his lips against Aragorn's. The two men stood frozen for a moment, perfectly aligned and barely pressed against each other, until Legolas pulled his head back. He opened his mouth, but whatever his exclamation was died as Aragorn pulled Legolas's head toward his own, this time pressing his lips forcefully against Legolas's mouth.

This time there was no hesitancy or awkwardness. Aragorn's hands twined trough Legolas's find blond hair and Legolas's hands crept up from his side to glide along the broad plane of Aragorn's back. Their lips moved against the other's, telling lover's secrets that would never be overheard and only the other could understand. Aragorn's tongue slipped into Legolas's mouth, cool and slippery, to caress every crevice of the elf's mouth. Legolas pulled Aragorn closer, their crotches grinding together.

For a few stolen minutes the two men kissed in the shadows of the great stone wall of the Hornburg. Holding the other close, the man and the elf found perfection and comfort in the other's presence and mouth. And then, as suddenly as it had begun, the kiss was over and the two men stood breathing hard, their hands dropping back to their sides.

A ghost of a grin flirted across Legolas's face and he placed a finger over Aragorn's lips to forestall any questions. 'There are other ways to wait for morning besides pacing,' he whispered and with those words he melted away into the dark, returning to the task of defending the Hornburg.

Aragorn rubbed his fingers against his lips and smiled, remembering Legolas's lips there only moments before. There were indeed better ways than pacing to spend the night and he felt clearer and reassured for having passed a few moments engaged in those alternate activates. Morning would come soon enough and until then he would be content with preventing the Orcs from gaining the Hornburg's outer walls. Restless pacing would accomplish nothing.

Aragorn left the seclusion of the wall to find Legolas. They would wait out the rest of the night together and once the danger had passed, perhaps they would spend more than a few minutes waiting for morning together.


End file.
